InProgress

from the Center for American Progress

Weighing the cost of Trump’s war in Iran

The Trump administration has already spent at least $37.5 billion on its war in Iran, and the House of Representatives just passed a budget resolution for another $73 billion to keep funding it. Tomorrow will mark six months since the start of this war, yet the administration has failed to accomplish any of its stated objectives despite the massive costs to the United States and American families.

But what could that money do if it were spent on addressing the needs of the American people instead?

The Center for American Progress’ new interactive puts the war costs into perspective. For example, the proposed $73 billion in additional war funding could provide full Medicaid coverage to 5 million more people, with billions left over. That remaining funding could then raise SNAP benefits, double fruit and vegetable benefits for half of infants born in the United States, and expand efforts to reduce toxic chemical and pollution exposure in communities across the country.

Explore the interactive to see what $73 billion for the Iran war could fund instead and consider what our government’s spending priorities say about whose needs come first.

Also, hear from veterans, military spouses, farmers, and budget experts in a roundtable discussion from our friends at CAP Action on the past six months of the Trump administration’s war in Iran—and what comes next.

see also

The Trump Administration’s Middle East Quagmire: Six Months Into the War in Iran 

Damian Murphy, Allison McManus, Andrew Miller

Fact Sheet: Costs of Iran War

Ryan Mulholland, Courtney Federico, Allison McManus

The Trump administration is auctioning off millions of acres of the American seabed for deep-sea mining

The Trump administration is fast-tracking deep-sea mining in federal waters, ignoring communities and risking the health of the ocean in pursuit of the so-called “Energy Dominance Agenda.” The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has proposed mineral lease sales to advance deep-sea mining near American Samoa, the Mariana Islands, Alaska, and Virginia, fast-tracking and bypassing public review for an immature industry that has never seen commercial use.

Areas opened for auction this fall:

31 million acres

near American Samoa

69 million acres

near the Mariana Islands’ outer continental shelves

A recent report commissioned by the National Ocean Protection Coalition found that the economic, environmental, and technical challenges associated with deep-sea mining make profitability or commercial success highly unlikely within the next 15 years, yet the administration is pushing forward with these sales anyway. Moving forward with the lease sales could give mining companies control of vast swaths of the American seabed for the next 20 years, despite serious environmental, cultural, and economic concerns from nearby communities.

From the Pacific Islands to the ocean floor, the Trump administration’s deep-sea mining scheme could reshape the future of America’s territories and surrounding waters. CAP senior fellow Angelo Villagomez explains the threat: 

The national debt hit $40 trillion. What does that mean? 

This week, CAP Senior Director for Federal Budget Policy Bobby Kogan explained on MSNOW how we reached this point and why the Bush and Trump-era tax cuts are to blame for our unstable debt trajectory.

The U.S. federal debt surpassed $40 trillion last week, but there are reasons not to panic. Raw numbers, even very big ones, don’t explain how large debt and related interest costs are relative to the size of the economy, which is the metric economists and budgeteers rely on. And even when contextualized with the size of the economy, the level itself is less important than the trajectory.

What matters most is that U.S. federal debt is not only historically high outside of World War II, but it’s also on track to rise indefinitely. This is a bad situation that Congress must address.

Critics often argue that because federal revenues have remained “roughly flat” as a percentage of gross domestic product while spending has risen, spending is the culprit. Data proves, however, that tax cuts enacted this century are driving this fiscal imbalance.